Located in a prime location at the heart of the Albany resort in the Bahamas and enjoying stunning views as well as access to a mega-yacht marina, plaza, golf course and beach, The Sanctuary Recording Studio is a brand new facility aimed at top global recording artists.

Designed by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, who worked alongside UK-based White Mark, a leading acoustic and technical design firm, the striking building offers a high-end recording facility and bright, spacious live room.

White Mark called in Langdale Technical Consulting to assist with the technical design and build. Langdale owner Bill Ward explains: “I’ve known White Mark for over 20 years – they’re a company working right at the top of their particular pyramid. We first started having conversations about the project around two years ago, with White Mark carrying out much of the technical design.”

As with many projects of this type, much of the build work was done offsite before Ward and the Langdale install team headed to the Bahamas for six weeks to complete the installation.

On the technical side, it was clear from the start that the client was not willing to compromise on any aspect of the studio infrastructure, and the gear installed makes this facility one of the best in the world. An SSL Duality desk is the centerpiece of the studio, alongside Exigy monitors with four subs and around half a million dollars worth of outboard gear. In addition, the entire technical infrastructure of the recording studio was supplied through VDC and included large amounts of Van Damme Blue Series – 24, 16, 12 and 8-pair – as well as all the fibre solutions, data solutions, racking and connectors.

Tavistock – The Sanctuary – Albany, The Bahamas

However, shipping such large amounts of gear from the UK to the Bahamas is no easy feat, and it’s here where VDC proved an invaluable partner for Langdale.

“One of the biggest challenges we faced on the project was getting everything delivered on time and through customs. One of the great things about working with VDC was having them back at base dealing with all the logistical side of things – the country of origin information and other paperwork. If you need additional kit, there’s no next-day delivery when you’re working the other side of the world, so having Nick [Chmara, Technical Director] at the other end of the phone ready to get us what we needed and get it through customs quickly was crucial. From this side of it, VDC played a very big part.”

The studio opened at the end of 2017 and has already welcomed top names from the music industry, including Alicia Keys, whose engineer Ann Mincieli manages The Sanctuary. It is also being used as an educational facility with the local Windsor High School having a dedicated writing room and hosting specialty Creative Arts and Music Production classes on site.

Ward concludes: “It was a great project to work on. You get projects every now and then like this where you get let off the creative leash a bit. It’s great when you get projects where the client wants to work without any compromise; they’ve got the right people in, the right budget for it and you can just get on and enjoy it.

“It’s hard to say which are the top recording studios in the world because they do different things, but with The Sanctuary they’ve probably built, from scratch, one of the top 5 studios in the world. They didn’t compromise on anything – it’s a stunning recording studio in a stunning location. They’ve targeted the very top of the market.”